Left to right: Ian Wooton, Cillian Ryan, Andrew Harrison, Matthijs Weeink, George H. Pretty II
Left to right: Ian Wooton, Cillian Ryan, Andrew Harrison, Matthijs Weeink, George H. Pretty II
Professor Ian Wooton (Economics) participated in a panel debate about inward investment as part of the European Trade Study Group conference and organised by Business Birmingham. The debate was held at the ICC Birmingham with a panel of two academics from the conference (Ian Wooton and Professor Cillian Ryan, University of Birmingham) and two members of a site selectors' delegation visiting Birmingham (Matthijs Weeink of Investment Consulting Associates, Amsterdam and George H. Pretty II of Parker Poe, Charleston, South Carolina). The event was chaired by Andrew Harrison, Managing Director of the Midlands and East Region of RBS. The discussion focused on overseas perceptions of Birmingham, how the city is performing against its international competitors and the role of universities in attracting foreign investment. In the audience were international trade economists from the European Trade Study Group conference.
The ETSG conference is in its fifteenth year, having been founded in 1999 by Ian Wooton and Professor Joe Francois, University of Linz and is the largest specialist conference in international trade in the world. This year's conference was held at the University of Birmingham and attracted 350 participants from across Europe and beyond. Future conferences will be in Munich (2014), Paris (2015) and Helsinki (2016).